Workforce Program Assessment Planning Guide

Step 5: Assessment Methods

The specific assessment tools, methods, and strategies you select or develop for your assessment plan provide the data on student learning you need to make decisions about your program. This is where you really develop the "meat" of your plan, so this step is somewhat complex.

As an overview, follow these general steps:

1. Consider the assessment model you have chosen, and identify any existing opportunities for data collection in your program
2. Consider what additional assessment strategies you need to develop or adopt 
3. Review assessment tools used in similar programs here or at other colleges
4. Develop, adopt, or adapt additional assessment tools as needed, based on the assessment model you have chosen
5. Identify and acquire technological tools that you could use to support data collection and management
6. Ask Advisory Committee members and other stakeholders to review your assessment methods and revise as needed
7. Put together your complete program assessment plan, with timelines and responsible individuals; send to Terri Daniels for inclusion on this website

Here are some tools to assist you as you develop your assessment methods:

• Click through this presentation on rubrics, which includes a step-by-step development process, principles of good practice, examples, and links to additional resources
• Use this assessment planning template to put together your assessment plan. This template includes both a matrix format and an outline format - you can use either or both. You can also use the matrix to record your results and planned actions, once you have implemented your plan.

Once you have developed your assessment methods and put them together into a plan, it's time to make sure all of your faculty - especially adjuncts - are on board and know what to do, to ensure that you get all of the data on student learning you are hoping for.